Combined pipe cooling and trimming apparatus.



G. DUNGAN. COMBINED PIPE COOLING AND TBIMMIHG APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JAB. 29, 1904.

Patented Jan. 5, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

INVENTOR.

WITNESSES.

G. DUNGAN. COMBINED PIPE COOLING AND TRIMMING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JAILZD. 1904.

Patented Jan. 5, 1909.

I ENTOR. 42 246: ma

a E S 5 E N W W UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE DUNOAN, OF MQKEEBPORT, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL TUBE 00., OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

COMBINED PIPE COOLING AND TBIMMING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 0, 1909.

Application fled January 29, 1904. Borhl No. 191,187.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, Gnonen DUNCAN, a resident of McKeesport, in the count of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, ave invented a new and useful Improvement in Combined Pipe Cooling and Trimming A 4 aratus; and I do hereby declare the idiowi to be a full, clear, and exact description t ereof.

My invention relates to apparatus for cooling and trimming pipe, eit er lap weld or butt weld, bein a pllcable to the trimmin either of sing e on b or double lengt' pi e.

Tn the manufacture of welded ipe in the making of the weld there is a wa s a slight ortion at each end of the we ded pipe which is imperfect and requires to be removed as scrap, first to form a true square end on the ipe, and second, to remove either unwel ed or otherwise imperfeet portions liable to be found at the ends. For instance, in the nianufacture of butt weld pipe, where the plates or strips have the forward end trimmed and bent so asto cause the plate to form u properly in the weldin bell there are a ew inches at that end w ich must be removed, while at the other end of-the pipe the edges do not abut exactly and it is usual to cut ofi-at least a half inch at this end. It also occurs at times that the ends of the pipe are not sufiiciently welded, because drawn from the furnace before they reach a welding heat or because the meta has been permitted to waste on the edges b over-exposure, so that the edges are not oreed to other with sufiicient pressure to make a weld; and further, the ends are wmetim'es im rfect on account of over-heating, forming urned or caved ends. The mass of such defects are apparent to the eye of-the skilled workman, and the custom has been to permit the cooling of the pipe and then to pass the ipe to the cut g and threading tables w ere the workmen examine the same, first cutting ofi the necessary scrap and then threadi the pipe. Imperfections are thus remov except such as are developed under pres sure of testing.

The labor of trimming the ends of the pipe greatlyincreases the cost of finishing.

trough, this rack having tail and the object of the present invention is to overcome such relative cost by providing for the trimming of the ends of the pipe during the cooling. operation. I

To these ends my invention consists generally stated, in t e combination wit the pi e welding apparatus and pi e finishing ro ls, of a receiving trou h bac of and in line with the finishing r515, and a cooling rack or table at the side of the receiving a series of continuously moving fingers in line with each other, adapted to engage the pipe body at different points in its length, and a saw located in and cutting across the course of the pipe when moved by the fingers on the rack, thereby cutting or trimming the pipe durin cooling.

.It a so consists in certain other improvements which will be hereinafter more particularly set forth and claimed.

To'enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will describe the same morefully, referring to the accomn panying drawin m which- Figure 1 is a p an view of a plant for the manufacture of single length butt weld ipe to which thethe invention is a plied; 1g. 2 is a like view of a plant for t e manufacture of double length butt weld pi e; Fi 3 isa side view of the coolin mac or ta le illustrating the invention; i 4 is a despedtive view; and Big. 5 is an enlarged detail plan.

In the accompanying drawmg,F1gure 1, the furnace 2 is illustrated as a regenerative furnace, being provided with suitable ipe welding apparatus such as a swin raw bench 3 pivoted at 4 and having de the same the sizing roll trou h 5, which receives the tube from the weldlng apgaratus, and

manufacture of the dougl d 1 rack 11 shown ieh in turn located about mid-way at the forward end of the same for cutting the tube into two sections.

Any suitable form of cooling racks, adapted to receive and carry the pipe in slow course and expose the entire body thereof to the atmos here for coolin may be employed. he racks shown 1n the drawing are composed of suitable frames having inclined sup orting bars 13 and carryin at each end e s rocket wheels 14 mounte% in said frames, w 'ch wheels carry the sprocket chains 15 provided at intervals with the carrying fin ers or lugs 16, the custom bein to locate su fingers on every alternate linl r of thechain, or otherwise as desired and the chains being so mounted on the several sprockets that a series of such lugs extend across the table in line with each other in position to receive the pipe dropped from the final receiving trough 9, engage with the body thereof at difi'erent oints, and carry the pipe in lateral course y a slow steadv movement from the lower to the upper end of the cooling table, the pipe being thus exposed to the atmosphere for a sufiicient eriod to permit it to cool from the high eat required for welding and finishing until brought ap roximatel to pro r temperature for Iiiial threa ing. e traveling chains are preferabl employed in connection with the incline supporting bars 13 of the table or frame in order to rotatethe pipe during cooling, the friction of the bars on the lower sur' ace of the pi acting to turn the pipe as it 1s pushed a ong the same by the carrymg fingers, and this ves further advantage 1n connection with t e sawing of the pipe, as the pipe will have a tendency to turn rin saw and there .is not as much liability o for fins. The traveling chains of the cooling table are driven by any suitable means.

Mounted at one side of the cooling table is the saw frame 17 ca the saw 18, such saw being shown as diiven from a motor 19 by'ksuitable belt 20. A like saw 21 driven by e connections is located on the other side of the cooling table; As shown in the drawing, one saw is mounted in advance of the othersaw, so that during the cooling of" the pipe one end of the pipe will come into contact with the one saw before the other endis brought into contact with the b This 1s important in the matter h i B it oftrimmmg p pe, because every inch -or half inch of pipe saved is of value and it enables the operator or operators to-so locate one n 0 s izmper trim his en r trimming to oeate the other rogerly trim that end, as above described. f esired the saw 12 midway of the table for cutting the pipe into sections and the forward saw 21 may,

the cutting operation. The body 0 the pipe rests upon the racks and is supported by t numerous traveling fin ers thereof, but during the cutting opera ion it is im ortant that the portion cut from the end of t e pipe shall be properly supported, and b so locating the outer supportlng chain an the finger 24 or 25 thereof in line with the other fingers of the rack or carrier such outer fingers give this necessary support and provide for the cutting even of small scrap ends which in some cases are not more than half an inch, and thereby provides for the saving of all the pipe possible. For some smaller sizes of pipe it is also desirable to support the pipe ody on each side of and close to the saw to prevent bending of the pipe during sawing. To this end I may also employ carrying fingprs close to the inner face of the saw, suc as by the use of an additional chain 30 provided with such fingers.

In the preferred construction the bearings of the saw remain stationary during trimmin operation, the saw passing in its course slightly below the inclined bars of the table.- For some purposes, however, and for the trimming of some pi e, the saw may be made to reciprocate, and or that purpose its the supporting arm 27 is illustrated as mounted n suitable bearings 28 and its movement is controlled byone or more hydraulic cylinders 29.

. The invention will be described in connection with the manufacture of butt weld tubing, though of course known to be applicable to all kinds of tubin which after manufacture re uireto be coo ed and trimmed. The blanks in charged. intothe welding furnace are fe when at the proper heat to the welding a paratus in the proper way, and the we (1 tube then asses from the welding apparatusrtc the nisliin' rolls, such as passing into the sizingro trou h 5 and into the roll trough 8 and-through the cross roll" .to the final receiving trough 9, from which; the pipe is fed onto the cooling rack, Fig. When received upon the too, rack or table the series of endless travel rs thereof the bod of {11:6 pi tl li ghout its 1 and carr y it tialon'g atslow For e operation of u u g end '1: en through the sizing rolls themse ves and the pi e boys or other suitable workmen are located one on each side of the cooling table and these workmen by inspection of the pipe can tell about how much is required to be trimmed from one or the other end of the same. For example, the workman standing on the rear side of the coolin rack and inspecting the pi e such as in the osition 30, can by means 0 his ton s grasp t e rear end of the pipe and slide it along the cooling rack so as to properly locate the rear end of the same for trimming by saw 21, and as the pipe is advanced on the cooling table this end of the pipe will be gradually fed to the saw, and that scrap end will becut from the pipe. As soon as that end of the pipe is trimmed the workman at the point 31 inspecting the other end of the pipe, can draw it along on the cooling table and so locate it as to provide for the cutting of the scrap from that end of the pipe and as the pipe is gradually fed forward that scrap end is cut therefrom by means of the saw 18. When the mid-saw 12 is located forward of the rear saw the first sections will be cut to standard length, while the pipe may be so positioned by the second workman standing at 31 for cutting by the rear saw to make as little scrap as practicable. In both such cutting operations, as the outer finger 24 or 25 of the series of fingers carryin the pipe engages with the scrap end to ie cut off, it supports the same until it is finally sawed from the tubing and drops below the rack. In Fig. 4 this 0 eration is illustrated, the pipe body being s own at 32, while the scrap to be cut therefrom is shown at 33. When a coolin rack of the form illustrated having the inclined bars with the traveling chain carriers is employed, as the pipe has a tendency to rotate as it 'is fed over the bars, as above stated, there will also be the tendency for the pipe to turn as it is being cut by the saws and this will reduce the tendency toward finning.

For the purpose of cutting the pipe I may either employ a hot saw or a cold saw according to the condition of the pipe, the pipe close to the entrance end of the cooling table being generally hot enough to be easily cut by means of the ordinary hot saw which requires less ower to drive.

By the a ove operation the cost of trimming the pipe is materially reduced and the trimming becomes practically automatic, though at the same time the pipe can be so located for trimming that all the good pipe can be saved and scrap wastage be reduced to a minimum. The pipes as thus cooled and trimmed then simply require to be taken to the threading machines and properly threaded, the labor of cutting the ipe when coo]. by suitable dies being avoided What I claim is 1. The combination of ipe welding apparatus, pipe finishing rol s and a receiving trough back of and in line therewith, and a cooling rack at the side of the receiving trou h having a series of continuously moving ngers in line with each other adapted to engage the pipe body at different polnts in its length, and a saw located in and cutting across the course of the pipe when moved by the fingers onthe rack and thereby acting to cut or trim the pipe during cooling.

2. The combination of ipe welding apparatus, pipe finishing rol s and a receiving trough back of and in line therewith, and a cooling rack at the side of the trough havinga series of continuously moving fingers in line with each other adapted to engage with the pipe body at different points in its length and carry the pipe in lateral course on said rack, a saw located on each side of the rack in the course of the pipe when carried thereby, one saw being set in advance of the other, and a saw being located about mid-way of the rack.

3. The combination with pipe welding apparatus, pipe finishing rolls and a receiving trough back of and in line therewith, of a ipe cooling rack at the side of the trough aving a series of continuously moving fingers in line with each other adapted to engage the pipe body at different points in its length, and a saw located in and cutting across the course of the pipe when moved by said fingers on said rack, the outer finger of the series being located outside of and close to the saw.

' 4. The combination with pipe welding apparatus, pipe finishing rolls and a receiving trough back of and in line therewith, of a pipe cooling rack at the side of the trough having a series of continuously moving fingers in line with each other adapted to engage the pipe body at different points in its length, and a saw located in and cutting across the course of the pipe, said series of fin ers having one such finger moving on eac side of and close to the saw.

In testimony whereof, I the said Gannon DUNCAN have hereunto set my hand.

GEORGE DUNCAN.

Witnesses:

J. A. CAUGHEY, E. P. COREY. 

